Over the weekend I switched Smallbiztechnology.com from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps.
I struggled with this decision for many, many weeks, but two things led me to my decision.
First, I was paying over $50 a month for hosted Exchange with Intermedia. Intermedia, by the way, is a great company with flawless tech support. However, Google Apps is $50 per year per user!
Secondly, I kept seeing so much writing about “Google Apps” marketplace. Meaning not just the basic apps that Google provides (Email, Document, Calendar, and other things) but the hundreds and hundreds of applications that independent vendors are creating to work with Google apps (such as Zoho, BatchBlue and many others).
These two forces caused me to make my decision based on cost savings and the availability of applications, similar to the world of the iPhone!
Like any new software, we have a lot to learn to get the most out of Google Apps, but we hope over time, we’ll see a boost in productivity, we already see a boost in financial savings.

Does this mean Microsoft Exchange is not “good”. Absolutely not. Exchange is still used by many small-medium sized business and in fact Microsoft’s Business Online Product Suite, is $10 a month for businesses (starting at 5 users and up).
I interviewed Microsoft’s VP of Small Business, Birger Steen about Exchange and lots more in this video interview here.